Any help will be much appreciated, this ones driving me nuts!!
Where to begin, the machine belongs to a friend who just dropped it off with the mains adapter and NO discs(I think they are available but he will have to post them to me) and said he was having problems, the machine is a:
Toshiba Equium M series laptop, running xp home with sp2.
Problems.
1. Taskbar missing, I've tried all the normal fixes, no luck, I can get it back only if I have the address bar active, however programs will not minimise to it.
2. The machine has been to various undesirable websites and so is full of spyware, adware, malware, viruses etc. It presently has Norton AV pre-installed that is corrupted. I have tried installing AVG but untill I remove Norton no go.
3. I have managed to install some anti-spyware programs with some success, AVG anti spy, spybot, cc cleaner that's about it.
4. I have no click and drag facility, I can copy but not paste anything.
5. If I try to install/uninstall certain programs I get an error message saying that the windows installer is running in safe mode(Not) or is corrupted.(Problem for point 2 above)
6. I don't have access to user accounts (3 buttons Back, forward and home) the rest is blanked out, the same in safe mode.
I don't have any network connections nor can I create one.
If I access services through computer management I have nothing in the extended tab, I appear to have them all in standard tab but cannot access the properties of any of them either by double clicking or right clicking.
I don't have system restore capability.
7. I keep getting error messages mainly:
1053 The service did not respond to the the start or control request in a timely fashion.
1068 The dependancy service or group failed to start.

Sorry there is no order to any of this, and I've probably missed some points out, I'm at wits end, I'm fast coming to the conclusion that my only course of action is a complete re-install which I'm trying to avoid if possible.

RGRodgers, Thanks for that, it seems to have gotten rid of Norton have tried installing AVG however have now got ,
firewall activity checking failed . the RPC server is unavailable. [1722]
The dependancy service or group failed to start. [1068]

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The technique is to create a folder where you would like the HijackThis file to reside, and run it from there, not from the Desktop or a temp folder. It is important that you download this file to its own folder as this folder will be used when HijackThis makes backups. Temp folders get deleted, taking with them HJT's 'backups' of items that were 'fixed'.

Run Hijackthis scan, save the log file, then copy and paste the logfile here: http://www.hijackthis.de/
Select "Short analysis".
If you're familiar with HijackThis you'll know what items to FIX. If you require advice, copy and post the link here. Preferably not the full log, as it can be too lengthy.
Alternatively you can paste the logfile in "Attach Code Snippet" so that we can study it.

Double click "combofix.exe" and follow the prompts.
When it's finished it will have produced a Logfile, probably at C:\ComboFix.txt.
You could post that log together with a HijackThis log, in a reply for us.
Please do not mouseclick Combofix's window while it is running, because it may hang. It is absolutely normal for you to see just a blue screen with flashing cursor, and this can last up to an hour or more. Just let it run.

You have removed NAV, so there shouldn't be any interference with this cleanup.

Then from the new HJT logfile we can decide whether another tool is required to complete.

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keba1Author Commented: 2008-01-29

Hi Thanks for the input, it's much appreciated, in my original post i mentioned I'd probably missed some points out and you have found 2 of them.
Already run Hijackthis, but can only do it from a USB HDD, because I cannot copy the file across(No click and drag and no copy and paste facility).
Like wise with combofix, that won't even install from the USB HDD, whether this normal or not I don't know.
Because windows installer is'nt working properly I'm very limited as too what I can and cannot install.
It's a real mongrel of a problem, and very very frustrating!!
I've been in touch with the guy who owns this machine and asked him to mail me the discs to do the re-install, the only option I think, I don't know whether to leave this post open till they arrive in case anyone else has any ideas or to close it down, not a regular "poster" so I'm not familiar with the etiquette, any advice?
Thanks.